[Will Hunt]

I've been bone idle this week as a combination of trying to rest fingers and not wanting to spoil my trips out climbing. But also just laziness.

W - got out early to celebrate the relaxation on outdoor exercise. Headed to Hellifield. Started on the Shark Boulder and did a nice 6B+. Then flashed the 7A next door which felt easier! Had a quick play on Great White but it felt quite powerful and didn't want to go too hard before looking at Code Orange. Headed up to Code Orange and was pleased to do it second go, just fumbling the penultimate hold on the flash go. Thought it about 7A+ - some punters disagree...
Trotted around the rest of the crag doing loads of good 6s and finished with going to a new block and doing some new stuff.
Felt battered by the end with DOMS in the legs till a couple of days later.

Su - Low Huller Stones with family. Great crag for family with lots of freestanding boulders to play hide and seek around and a flat walk in.
Started off with Gullstone and flashed that. Felt about 6C/+. Then Cuckoo Roof and flashed that also. Felt like it might be 7A. Noticed the hanging arete to the left and did a new low start on it which climbs nice and independently. That took a good few goes to figure out.
Played with sprogs then had a go on Splinter which was absolutely vile. Not sure if I did it properly as Paul can't remember whether he used footholds on the right when he did it. It felt harder like this than Cuckoo Roof. Also flashed a 7A traverse on the same wall. More play, then flashed Hailing Wall Left before going. Maybe 6C but will be harder for midgets.

God only knows what grade all these things really are.

[Coops_13]

M: Lower body workout, focusing on Glutes and Hammies. Front lever progressions, 3 sets. Lower body stretching

T: Clear Creek Canyon - Mile 268 Boulders. Warmed up on Mavericks then got on 41st Street V7. Came close on this before lockdown and after re-working some of the moves, sent third go. Psyched. Finished by pottering on a few easier things


W: 2.25 mile run, 21:33. Max HR 183.
Pistol squat exercises, 300 core movements

T: Front Lever progressions

S: Flagstaff Mountain. Tried to go to Eldorado Canyon but busy so came here. Warmed up at Cloudshadow Wall and went to the Alcove. Sent Curmudgeon V7 4th go (soft) and New Beginnings V8 (soft) not long after before my mate arrived. Moved on to Stranger Than Friction V6 (not soft) and eventually did that, so so good. All problems were v LH intensive which wasn't good for tweaky finger. Also see my post on the 'Climbing through CV-19' thread for our strange encounter. Finished pottering on a couple of other things with v thin skin


Going to see how the finger is feeling into next week regarding continued climbing. Also, moved all my videos onto youtube so will be posting there from now on. Don't expect anywhere near turnipturned-level quality...

[shark]

Nice clips Coops

11.9-11Average 163.6 (down 0.8lbs)

M.Afternoon. Leisurely max hangs on ergo edge through afternoon interspersed with online scrabble and reading. Best (deadhang) scores Half crimp +20kg x 8secs and Drag +22.5kg x 8secs. Down about 6kg on January PB

T.Afternoon. Did the 3 easier problems that I’d done in the previous two sessions with a view to getting the warm ups wired and keep adding to the repertoire. Had another quick dabble on the 7A+ ‘Pillar of Power’. No chance

W. 5 degrees and low humidity so rare late season grit connies. Out with boys to try Mossatrocity - Ben sold it to me on the basis that I could do the 7A stand whilst they did the sit. The stand was nails. Heel hook, slap, slap off for me. Boys got higher but no sends. Later found out Haydn took 3 sessions to do the stand (is this true?)Packed up and persuaded them it would be worth swinging by the Tor. No one climbing there! Boys went and worked on Powerband. I went on Bens Without. Despite being half a stone heavier did the two hardest moves. Tips too sore to try the third. Joined the boys but too tired trying crux of Powerband and Rattle and Hump. Gave up. Home by 3pm.

T.

F. Warmer. Went to Tor. We were all still tired from Weds. Tried hard. Tips bruised. Achieved very little. As Steve Mac commented after “Training is not as hard as the real thing”. Maybe it’s a sign we don’t train hard enough

S.

S,

Obviously going to focus on climbing again. Will start reintroducing training when I can cope with both. Weigh way too much.

[Bradders]

Had a good week. Pushed training volume whilst also getting outside. Backed off intensity in a couple of less important areas to compensate. Determined to finish 12 week training plan; three to go now.

M - board 4x4s. Took an hour including warm up. Dropped 3rd problem halfway through in first set so switched it for a slightly easier one for remainder and completed all the rest.

T - nothing really bar a dog walk

W - warm up on board and then one arm repeaters. Six sets 3r 6/4 alternating half crimp and 4f open on the large outside 2k slots w/ 10kg assistance, except last set of open hangs wherein I used -7kg assistance. Completed all reps. Followed up with 5 sets of open mono pick ups, including up to 25kg on both middle fingers, 15kg indexes and rings and 10kg pinkies.

T - early morning pre-work project board session. Only an hour plus warm up. Managed new high point on longest project dropping move 9/11. Attempts at two others but not all that much progress.

In the afternoon went out to Swastika Stones. Did a lovely 5+ slab arete which was a quick reminder of the subtleties of grit! Managed Swastika Eyes in a few goes and flashed Barn Door Arete which was brilliant. Over to Pogo Arete and did it in a few goes. Then flashed Walking the Dog. Finished walking over to Piper's Crag. Had a quick go at Asylum but I didn't have anywhere near enough pads (or a spotter obvs.) and my arms were completely gone anyway, so settled for two of the easy highballs on the lower wall.

F - out early afternoon to Sprotbrough. Rock absolutely filthy so spent a bit of time cleaning, then managed Shelf Life and The Shelf in a few goes each. Tried Mo's Undercut for a bit and was easy to the hard bit going RH to a shallow 3f crimp but couldn't stick that move.

When I got home did a repeaters hangboard session; 6r 7/3s on 19mm x3 +10kg, followed by 3x 6r 7/3s on medium slopers (felt a lot easier than last week). Superset 5 of these w/ 5x 8r pull ups, 5r leg raises & 20r push ups. Finally did 2x 6r 7/3s repeaters supinated half crimp on 19mm at bodyweight. Backed off the intensity in this session slightly versus last week but pleased I could maintain the volume given earlier sessions. Completely ruined after.

S - nada, short walk

S - warm up on board then one arm repeaters, six sets 3r 6/4 alternating half crimp and 4f open on the large outside 2k slots w/ 10kg assistance for half crimp, 7kg for open. Dropped one or two reps but generally felt pretty solid. Feeling progression with this. Then board projects for an hour. Managed 2nd half of my 11 move project for the first time, one of those that looked like it wouldn't be too bad when I set it but is actually quite tricky. Linked the first half into second again. Nothing else really of note, failed on 3 other projects. Did a 5km walk in the afternoon.

[JohnM]

Weight: 145-147lbs

M: Rest + 7km walk by the river.

T: Shoulder recruitment + core on the bar, foam rolling + shoulder mobility.

W: Shoulder recruitment + core on the bar. Max. hangs. Seem to have gone very far backwards with this since the lockdown when I hung with 32kg on a 15mm edge. Now I an struggling to hang with 25kg - +10, 15, 25, 20, 20, 20kg 7 second hangs 6-8 minute rests. 200 pull ups (travelling, normal, sling assisted 1 armers, pulley assisted one armers x 5 each arm (10.5kg assistance), weighted pullups on edges (15mm, 20mm and 30mm +8kg, 6kg, 4kg  16 on each edge size and weight in sets of 3 to .

T: Had a training session planned but thought about resting as a last minute trip to Schleier on the Friday came up. However, somehow the girlfriend talked me into training asking if I wanted to be fresh for Schleier or get stronger. I said both but apparently that was not an option. Trained in the morning to increase potential recovery time. Did a session Neil Gresham posted on Insta. With 10kg pulley assistance (you need to be able to do 20-30 pullups on your chosen edge to calibrate the session) on a 30mm edge I did 6 minute blocks of 2 pullups, 2 leg raises then 2 pullups 2 legs raises, repeat this sequence on the 30 seconds. On the minute switch to 6 seconds on, 4 seconds off repeaters x 5 and then on minute 3 go back to the pullups and leg raises. Alternate these for 6 minutes (i.e. 3 sets of each) then I rested for 8 minutes. I completed 4 of these training blocks. I did a load of pullups and fingerboarding during lockdown but this was by far the most brutal session I have done for a long time! By the evening I had extreme muscle soreness everywhere.

F: Schleier Wasserfall. Luckily the muscle soreness had gone but I lacked anything resembling upper body strength and a core. Had a few goes on an 8b I had tried before but the first few moves require a lot of core and upper body strength so didn't make a lot of progress. Linked from the last hard move of the crux to the top. Then did a 7c+ and 7c first go (not flashes as the 7c+ links into the top of the 8b and the 7c shares the same start as the 7c+). I went into an extremely deep pump on both of them!

S: Trail run 13.5km with 1100m height gain. Got no power in the legs anymore and still need to recover. Hiked most of the hills after the first few kms.

S: Back to Schleier. Had a few good goes on the 8b+ I tried the week before. Got through all the crimpy start moves to fumbling the last jab into an undercut at the end of the crux 3 times. Fingers felt ok but a bit of compression is required though the crux and my shoulders still felt busted from the week. Eventually the route trashes your skin so linked from the crux to the top and called it a day on that one. Tried an 35m 8a which was like two 7b+s stacked on top of each other with some crux I didn't have the power to do in the middle and then tried a 7b which has not been climbed in ages. Failed on that one too on dusty snappy rock at the crux.

A good week but it has left me feeling pretty broken. Didn't really manage to get anything done outdoors as the training really took away the edge I needed. Tricky to balance both but it will hopefully pay off at some point and I will be able to climb something of 8b or above again which is the short to medium term aim.

[nai]

M - board session. Good, did a couple of new problems but couldn't repeat any from Autumn although did some decent links.
Probably some conditioning

T - I swore I'd write it down as I went so I knew what I did but forgotten now.   Probably stretched.

W - Shoulder warm up on bar in loft while being teacher/tech support/roadie for nipper. Felt good, hung engaged on both arms. Not been able to do that on left for a while. Bit of a break then started warming up on the board. Felt a bit whoozy and had to lie down.  Dozed off.  Didn't try again.

Th Rock Climbing - Lees Bottom then paint it Black. Felt so good to be out.
Slow start on the RHS at LB but improved as I worked out how to move with a bit oif remembering what I'd done before.
Managed to work out the start of Toit de Cul de Lee, thought I'd done this but had just copied what Tom and Dolly told me the first time I went, only when I looked for myself did I realise I'd started too far right.  Hard moves, felt morpho. Needed an extra pad or two for the top in the absense of spotters.
Had a play on Mr Creosote, as morpho as suggested by the pdf, but didn't seem entirely impossible.
Decided to head and check out Paint it Black.  Frustrating start when as usual my heel won't stay in the slopey polished start hold but having swapped a Solution for a Katana for a Muira I eventually tried a 15(?) year old Verde which stayed in nicely and the first move felt possible although didn't quite do it as my skin started to give up. Psyched

Core back home.

F -  Single straight leg DL 10kg, Single leg hip thrust 18kg, Floor slides.  Think this was a frustrating day that I wanted to do more but couldn't get around to it. Possibly did some core

S - Board session mostly making big moves on slopers and flatties. Great fun. Bit of core

S - Calisthenics floor circuit and good stretch

Motivation quite low, few tweaks to work around, bit of excess weight that's proving hard to shift being stuck at home and lack of opportunities to get out with kids at home.  Daft thing is I was ok until they decided we could go out.  Now I've been out and been reminded how good it is I'm missing it and rueing the lack of opportunities.

[Murph]

I'm with you nai that getting out is a blessing and curse. Apart from dawn raid I dont think I'll get much opportunity. Family bouldering sessions seems a step too far.

Coops- brilliant stuff (though hope you dont meet that bloke again).

Anyway not much of a week

M-5k low hr run. Just Do Something routine.
T-JDS
W-dawn raid (actually quite a while after dawn) on trackside. Nice to be out. JDS. 5k low hr.
T-JDS
F-S motivation dropped off a cliff. What can I say. I come here to stay honest though so not hiding it.

68.7-68.0kgs that's good.
Also waist went 84-82cms. That's still an unhealthy muffin top.

Getting there.

[mr chaz]

Goals: i) Exercise everyday ii) End lockdown fitter iii) Maintain finger strength

M. Fingerboard - 2 arm hangs, 20s or max.
T. 20 minute HIIT.
W. Fingerboard - 1 arm max hangs, didn't perform very well.
T. 20 minute HIIT, 15 minute run (~2km)
F. 25 minute kettlebell HIIT
S. Fingerboard - 1 arm max hangs, started poor, finished strong!
S. 3 hr walk around Stiperstones, fucking lovely! Even spotted some chalked up choss near the top.

Decent week, finished a chunk of my MSc project too, potentially getting on some rock in the coming days, venga!

[cheque]

M- Rest.

T- Dumbbell complex w/4kg in day, fingerboard repeaters in evening- predictably not the best FB session because of this.

W- Rest.

T- Deadlifting. 5x 25, 30 & 40kg, 2x 60, 70, 80, 90 & 100kg. Tried 110kg and got it most of the way but dropped it  “I swear this kind of thing has never happened to me before”

F- Rest.

S- Walked to Rivelin with the distancing-friendly lens I bought the day before lockdown to photograph the hordes of psyched post-lockdown climbers that I was certain would be there. A57 very busy walking over (I’ve got used to wandering down it barley seeing any traffic) but  no-one at the crag whatsoever- less fresh chalk in fact than when I went at Easter. Nice to be out though and chatted to friends on the phone in the way there and back.

Stayed up til 4AM in the studio.

S- Rest.

Didn’t feel the need to rush out and climb when the restrictions were lifted- I’ve dealt with the lockdown so far by essentially forgetting that rock climbing exists so the idea feels a bit weird regardless of whether it’s the right thing to do or not. Still getting stronger and have eased off on the chocolate this week which is good.

[spidermonkey09]

M- max hangs. Managed a set at 3.75kg assist, although the form wasnt perfect so will need a few more at that weight probably. Also managed a bodyweight hang on the left hand, 3 finger drag which was ace.  the downside was the edge of the hold has nailed the skin on the first joint of my ring finger.

T- anderson hangs. Managed +7.5kg base on the bottom outside first up. Slopers with 2.5 better than last week but still some failure. Attempted a set on the bottom two finger pockets and swiftly realised this was a nonstarter so resorted to using my index in the slopey pocket too. Nails. Knackered for the last set, 3FD on the battery edge with 3.75 base.

W- outside! Was a bit uneasy so just went to Slawston Bridge just outside Leicester. Another pair there toproping but avoiding them was easy. Did some easy traversing and the odd up problem (felt high!) before I started trying a traverse problem i think I first tried in 2012 at uni. I got nowhere for ages but then did the move and finished it off. Really nice to finish that off as I remember it feeling unclimbable for years!

T- wasnt planning to go out but then I realised there wasnt really a reason not to with no work to do. Went to the Churnet for the first time and slogged up to Wrights Rock. Great spot, had to to myself for ages. Worked the 7B traverse in sections before having goes from the start. Should have done it second go but spooned the last hard move. A long rest and I just about managed despite terminal pump on the jug before the final V2 section. A pleasant surprise as I wasnt sure I would be fit enough, probably about route 7b+/7c? At this point some braying knobheads arrived who started warming up in bare feet, putting them all over the handholds I had just been using  i was knackered anyway so this was a good time to leave.

F- nothing

S- was a bit nervous about going out on a busy weekend but girlfriend mega keen after working all week so decided to go to Dovestones, which we presumed would be quiet. 6 teams there which was perhaps a good example of people trying to do the right thing and creating busy crags that are normally dead! No problems though and enough room for all. Did a good steep VS and the classic HVs Great Buttress which was brilliant.

S- Max Hangs. Thought it would be shit but was pleasantly surprised. Managed another set at 3.75kg assist which is good. Time to drop it to 2.5kg which I will definitely fail at for a while but it keeps my motivation up.

I thought i had been a bit lazy this week but looking back its no wonder I was a bit tired when out in the churnet today! Really enjoyed getting outside. Im still not convinced its a sensible national policy but I cant be arsed self flagellating myself so will enjoy it while I'm not working and before we get locked down again...

[Bradders]

Nice work on max hangs SM! Which edge are you using?

[tomtom]

Late this week. Weight still 68kg

Mon: rest

Tu: 1 arm day. Decided to re-work my ‘rig’. Got rid of the therabands and foot loop and replaced them with a pulley, cord and weights - gives me a more consistent weighted pull (esp near the top). All sets 1 min - 7 on 3 rest (5/5 on harder) alternating arms within each set. 1 x -12kg, 1x -10kg, 2x -8kg, 2x -6kg, 3x -4kg.

We: Board day. Warmed up really well. Body working nicely - Did easy and easy/med problems smoothly - then couldn’t do anything harder. Just couldn’t get my body to work on the holds as it had previous week. Salvaged some pride by doing some harder stuff with slightly cheaty extra holds etc...

Thu: Went out in the evening 2 hours climbing. I’m not going to say where or what I did - just because I’m not completely comfortable with myself going out - and some people still think we shouldn’t. Which is fair enough.

Fri: 1 arm day. Exactly as per Tuesday.

Sa: Went outside again in the morning - 2 hours climbing,

Sun: Warmed up on the board - but felt really tired (physically) and it wasn’t happening. So went and repeated the 1 arm day from Tuesday - but failed on the last two sets. Did some more tests on smaller hold/rung. With -12kg, open hand 10 secs left, 5 (desperate) secs right. Half crimp - maybe 2 secs left, 0 right.

It was really good touching rock again. Movement seemed good - smearing and using feet fine (very well it felt!). I was certainly no worse than I was 8 or 9 weeks ago and quite possibly a decent bit stronger. No niggles. 1 arm stuff much more solid now.

[teestub]

Was it Wilton you went climbing at? 😄

[webbo]

Quarry no 4 I believe.

[tomtom]

Was it Wilton you went climbing at? 😄

:D Sherlock! Normally I’d spout on about what I tried and done and how I’d progressed etc... Don’t feel like doing that at the moment.

[Duma]

Was it Wilton you went climbing at? 😄

Bet it was church

[spidermonkey09]

Nice work on max hangs SM! Which edge are you using?

Bottom middle on the 2000. I was pretty surprised I could do it, maybe the half crimp bodyweight hang is plausible after all!

[monkoffunk]

M - Resting the fingers. Some antagonist work and core. Weighted push ups, thrusters. Hanging leg raises/bent leg front lever holds. Also added some floor exercises. Normally hate floor core stuff, but found some I could tolerate which was good!

T - Unsurprisingly yesterday’s ‘rest’ was not hugely restful.

One arm hangs.

12.5kg off only about 5 seconds each hand.
-13.75kg 10 sec each
-13.75 8sec right 10sec left

-13.75kg 10,10
-13.75 7right,6left
-13.75 6 right 5 left + 1.25kg in other hand. Felt similar to first hang, unsurprisingly.

I think the reason my repeaters from last week were with only just a little less weight was because they weren’t truly repeaters. Too much rest, not enough hangs.

Finger tip pyramid pull ups to 5

Pinch block work. Not done in a while.
Sets of 10 secs alternating wide and narrow. With 17.5kg. Think I did about 5 each hand but lost track.... Next time more weight, did not feel close to maximal.

W - Was going to rest, but felt unusually good so changed mind with mixed results. One round of 3 one arm hangs, not really making 10 sec with -13.75, failing between 6-9 seconds. Horst style hangs, also failing early, stopped after three sets. Instead did some one on one off problems. Seemed to be more the ball park of where I was at.  Felt good to try hard, easy to moderate moves with extreme pump. Perhaps less good that i was getting so pumped so quickly...

T - rest

F - Stuck some micros up. Testing on the 8mm. Had to take weight off to hang for 10secs. Think that shows I need some more specificity!
Sets of three hangs
-10kg 10,10,10 sec
-7.5kg 10,8,7 sec
-6.25kg 10,7,7 sec
-5kg 8,9,5 sec
-3.75kg 6,3 sec (didn’t try the third)

Started the 6Cish set from the beastmaker app, but gave up.

Hanging leg raises, weighted press ups

S - Rest

S - Rest

I don’t think I performed at my best this week, think I good the rest wrong. Was interesting trying out some smaller holds. I kinda expected to hold the 8s but then seemed super weak. Good to try something else, clearly need to work on it.

[Nibile]

Power Club

Mon - ab wheel, push ups, weights, loaded carries.
Tue  rest.
Wed - bar work, barbell complex, loaded carries.
Thu - one footed bouldering + 8 kg at 69 kg bodyweight, on problem 1. Landmine complex x5.
Fri - lower back postural work.
Sat - TBDL finisher 30" (80 kg). Loaded carries. Brutal.
Sun - board, circuit holds 5-6 to top. Great progress. Gym push ups. Barbell complex.